Catch Some Sun in the Korean Garden of Frankfurt!

Back in 2005, the city of Frankfurt has been presented with a wonderful gift from the Republic of Korea - a real Korean garden! It is a wonderful place to discover among the jungle of skyscrapers known as the Frankfurt Skyline.

Frankfurt am Main is one of the most popular cities when it comes to fairs and exhibitions. The Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre holds up to 50 different fairs every year, among them then ChristmasWorld, the Music Fair, the Frankfurt Motor Show and the Book Fair. For the Book Fair, Korea has been the Guest of Honour. As a “thank you”, Frankfurt was presented with a little bit of Korean culture: the Korean Gardens in Westend!

I know for a fact that it was built by Korean specialists, so even though I don’t have too much knowledge about Korean culture, I’m bound to say that the garden is pretty authentic and isn’t just some European replica. The garden features 2 temples and 2 little ponds connected with each other by a stream. One of the temples is mostly used for Martial Arts training, while the other is simply there to look at and maybe sit on its terrace.

The garden, with an astounding 4000 square meters, is a very awesome place to just relax.

It’s great location makes it very popular for university students:
The garden is situated on the east side of the Grüneburgpark, which happens to border with the University Campus Westend. From the lecture hall and the law library, it takes about 4 minutes of walking to get to the garden.

It is open from 8am until dawn, so in essence, whenever students have a break from class, or want to revise outside in a calm, relaxed environment, they come here. The garden has a few benches and a little hill that you can simply lie down on. There’s a lot of grass area, so you may take some kind of blanket and just lie down in the middle of this magical place.

There’s a few rules in this place:
- no alcohol
- no dogs
- no BBQ.

All pretty logical, in my opinion. You wouldn’t want drunk dogs roaming around and destroying this gift by setting it on fire. ;)

Why would this be a favourite spot to get some sun? Why not go to the river, or to a restaurant with a terrace?

Well, quite simple really:
- Unlike the park this garden is “built” in, it has a few tall trees only, so you’re not going to be looking for sun behind those huge tree crowns.
- I spend most of my days at the university, going to class or in revision. Sometimes you just want a change from libraries full of books, and this calm, peaceful place is absolutely perfect for it!
- Not too many people actually know about this place. Most students prefer to sit outside of the cafeteria with a beer in their hands when the sun’s out and it’s 23°C. So far I’ve seen a couple of elderly people, a few students who study Asian culture and a few martial arts students.

So in essence – a secluded place, full of sun, with a surrounding that will take you away from reality. You will suddenly forget that just 10 minutes ago you were studying constitutional law in a cold library in a metropolitan city, but find yourself in the middle of a different culture, a different world.

The Korean Garden is found on the east side of the Grüneburgpark, “Grüneburgpark 1”. The fastest way to get there is to take Bus36 to the Campus Westend station or Simon-Bolivar Anlage and walk to the new part of the campus. The garden is right behind the House of Finance.

More Interesting Articles

Seoul, South Korea is among the most progressive cities today, famous for its innovations in various fields and being hailed as the most connected city in the world. But have you ever wondered how certain places looked like decades ago? Have a look at Korean photographer Sungseok Ahn's fascinating series after the jump!

Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, was once the great capital of India back when the British ruled our country. This is my hometown, and not the place I study in. I enjoy photographing various urban scenes around it and this is a curated gallery of sorts introducing the old city for you wonderful people.

New York City has long been synonymous to skyscrapers, throngs of people both locals and tourists, neon lights, entertainment, and all things loud and hip. It is, after all, a metropolis, a melting pot of cultures - the city that never sleeps. However, back in the 1960s, Duane Michals was able to capture these photographs of a New York that many people has rarely seen.

Before the end of 2014, my girlfriend took the plunge of purchasing a rangefinder camera from eBay as a late Christmas gift for me. Let me present to you: the Fed 5. The Fed 5 has been known as a copy of the Leica M3 rangefinder camera. It is inexpensive compared to Leica models. So what are my experiences of using the Fed 5? Read on to find out more.

Back in the summer we lent film maker Robert Sanderson a petzval lens to shoot some videos for us. He decided to take inspiration in his back garden and managed to capture some wonderful footage of his cat. Click here to watch this adorable video.

I backed the Kickstarter project for the Lomo’Instant earlier this year and was thrilled to receive it last week. I love how the camera naturally encourages you to experiment with its different features, whether it’s through flashing your multiple exposures with different colors or trying different creative techniques after your shots has been ejected. Here are a few tips from what I’ve discovered from playing with the camera so far (and a couple of tips I want to try out in future)!

Fancy building a camera museum or, well, simply have hundreds of cameras at your disposal? You might want to take a look at this newest camera lot to show up on eBay, which includes 600 cameras by various makers and carries a "Buy It Now" price tag of $34,900.00.

The LomoChrome Purple is easily one of the coolest films to come out in a very long time. The amazing colors and vibe it gives each shot and its wide range of exposures make it a must-have and must-shoot film. Here are some cool ways to help you get the most out of your LCP.

In the third and final installment of his Russian love story, Herr Willie recalls some of the most memorable experiences from his trips to post-Soviet Russia, including traveling aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway and shooting with the La Sardina for Lomography on assignment, and waxes nostalgic about all the amazing people he had met.